Wow, just over a month away from the tour. Getting very close.
Had quite a good training session last night at the SCG nets. Batting was a little off from previous weeks (still decent though) but I had some vision problems so I was quite happy with my hit. I'm really cracking some good drives/cover drives at the moment and me leg side play is improving well.
Some more good news, my bowling felt much better. Slowed my approach right down and bowled some good length outswingers, actually causing some trouble to the batsman for once. Just got to eliminate the couple of long hops I let creep in, and I have something very good to build on in the final 5 weeks of preparation. And mind you, I'm still bowling with an old ball.
Got lots of tour shirts this week. Playing shirts, polo, Twenty20 shirt and alternate training shirt. TC is #14 for the tour. The Plateau has it all.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Training Report 13th of May
I have completed a lot of training over the past couple of days. Yesterday was the weekly tour group session at the SCG and then today I went up to the Plateau nets for another bowl.
I will again speak about my bowling first. Things just aren't happening, although I bowled better last night I still don't feel good about it. I'm not threatening, I don't look like taking wickets. Maybe bowling with a 100 over or more old ball has something to do with, I might try and get a new/newer ball for next time. But still, there's no use doing that if I can't get it in the right areas.
Then today I felt a bit stiff and tired, but managed to work myself into a half decent rhythm and bowled OK against an empty net.
My Batting is going pretty well at the moment. With the faster bowlers and the ball coming onto the bat I feel fantastic, especially my drives. I still have work to do with slower bowling, I tend to be getting ready and playing too early, which happens when I'm in a hard hitting mood. I just have to wait for it a bit more instead of getting myself in a big tangle.
No net at the SCG next week, but I will probably have a bowl up the Plateau again at some point, got to try and get my bowling going.
Cheers.
I will again speak about my bowling first. Things just aren't happening, although I bowled better last night I still don't feel good about it. I'm not threatening, I don't look like taking wickets. Maybe bowling with a 100 over or more old ball has something to do with, I might try and get a new/newer ball for next time. But still, there's no use doing that if I can't get it in the right areas.
Then today I felt a bit stiff and tired, but managed to work myself into a half decent rhythm and bowled OK against an empty net.
My Batting is going pretty well at the moment. With the faster bowlers and the ball coming onto the bat I feel fantastic, especially my drives. I still have work to do with slower bowling, I tend to be getting ready and playing too early, which happens when I'm in a hard hitting mood. I just have to wait for it a bit more instead of getting myself in a big tangle.
No net at the SCG next week, but I will probably have a bowl up the Plateau again at some point, got to try and get my bowling going.
Cheers.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
SCG Training 5th May
Yesterday we had our first net session at the SCG indoor nets. The nets tend to be quite fast and bouncy, add dodgy lighting to this and it makes for a pretty difficult environment to bat in.
I'll get this out of the way - my bowling feels rubbish at the moment. I just can not put everything together. I bowled maybe 2 or 3 balls I was happy with. Maybe I'm trying to "fix" too many things in my action. Perhaps if I just forget it all and bowl I'll be able to return to some old form. Theres so many things I've been thinking about, staying tall in my action, getting good air off my jump, holding the ball at the end of my fingers and even my pet hate creeps in, 'get your front arm up'. So thats it I think, I'll just start from scratch. I know I don't need to be too fast or hit the pitch hard, I've just got to pitch the ball in a good position with it swinging away time and time again like I used to.
Anyway with that bowling rant out of the way, my batting was a mixed bag. I played some decent shots but also a few terrible ones. I got a bit frustrated when I edged a couple of balls which I played defensive shots to and thought I had under control. But I suppose thats the nature of those nets.
Summing up, I've got quite a bit of work to do, but plenty of time to do it in. Just hope I can get my bowling sorted out.
Cheers
I'll get this out of the way - my bowling feels rubbish at the moment. I just can not put everything together. I bowled maybe 2 or 3 balls I was happy with. Maybe I'm trying to "fix" too many things in my action. Perhaps if I just forget it all and bowl I'll be able to return to some old form. Theres so many things I've been thinking about, staying tall in my action, getting good air off my jump, holding the ball at the end of my fingers and even my pet hate creeps in, 'get your front arm up'. So thats it I think, I'll just start from scratch. I know I don't need to be too fast or hit the pitch hard, I've just got to pitch the ball in a good position with it swinging away time and time again like I used to.
Anyway with that bowling rant out of the way, my batting was a mixed bag. I played some decent shots but also a few terrible ones. I got a bit frustrated when I edged a couple of balls which I played defensive shots to and thought I had under control. But I suppose thats the nature of those nets.
Summing up, I've got quite a bit of work to do, but plenty of time to do it in. Just hope I can get my bowling sorted out.
Cheers
Monday, May 4, 2009
Mandalong Match
Yesterday nearly everyone on the tour trekked it an hour and a half up the coast to the suburb of Mandalong where we completed a successful match on turf, officially the clubs annual "Presidents XI" vs "Captains XI".
The pitch was spongy due to overnight rain and the outfield was quite long and was obviously going to be very slow. It was a fairly easy decision for the president at the toss to bowl first, that being my team.
Early the bounce in the pitch was very inconsistent and even dangerous with the odd length ball shooting up sharply out of nowhere. This wasn't to relevant to my bowling as I tend not to hit the pitch that hard. But anyway, opening the bowling I struggled big time, I couldn't put together what I had worked on in the nets, everything felt wrong and I rarely bowled a ball I was happy with in my first spell of 4 overs.
Something I was very happy with was my fielding. I took two fairly easy catches comfortably and made no mistakes in the outfield, even my throwing was good which is unusual for me. Whatever I did, it got me ready for my final two overs. They were an unbelievable improvement on my opening spell, I was able to get nearly every ball where I wanted it, my run up and action felt 100% better and was probably unlucky not to take a wicket. I ended up with 0/20 off 6, and on that outfield that's pretty poor.
Batting was the highlight of the day for me, I was very happy with my innings. Even though the sun had been drying out the pitch all morning there was still a few gremlins. But anyway I got my innings underway was a push towards mid wicket, a shot that is definitely not a strength of mine so that was an immediate positive. Then I had to face some quality spin from Deano which I thought would spell an early end for me, considering my weakness against spin especially early in my innings. His first ball spun and mile past my bat but amazingly that was all the trouble he gave me. I played some nice shot over mid wicket which I had myself confused about, no idea why I played it but I allowed perfectly for the spin and it came off beautifully. It was all going along nicely until the pitch decided to throw me a few dooseys. Toby (pace) bowled 3 balls that really destroyed me. The first one stayed relatively low and swung in. The second one bounced in nearly the same spot and shot up and smacked me in the helmet. The third on again bounced in a similar spot but decided to stay even lower than the first ball, it rapped me on the pads and I was out LBW. I ended up with a solid 11, worth nearly double on a better outfield and was unlucky in the way I got out so was very, very happy with my innings.
Everyone put in a good performance. Dad managed to get through a game despite his continuing back problems which is a good sign. We were playing a weird form of average cricket where you had to win both on average and on total score, every batsman had to bat for at least 2 overs. Anyway the Presidents XI had the average pretty much sealed for the whole game, but just couldn't beat the Captains XI score of 141 pulling up one run short which made for a really exciting finish. So the game was a draw.
More cricket tomorrow, with training at the SCG nets.
The pitch was spongy due to overnight rain and the outfield was quite long and was obviously going to be very slow. It was a fairly easy decision for the president at the toss to bowl first, that being my team.
Early the bounce in the pitch was very inconsistent and even dangerous with the odd length ball shooting up sharply out of nowhere. This wasn't to relevant to my bowling as I tend not to hit the pitch that hard. But anyway, opening the bowling I struggled big time, I couldn't put together what I had worked on in the nets, everything felt wrong and I rarely bowled a ball I was happy with in my first spell of 4 overs.
Something I was very happy with was my fielding. I took two fairly easy catches comfortably and made no mistakes in the outfield, even my throwing was good which is unusual for me. Whatever I did, it got me ready for my final two overs. They were an unbelievable improvement on my opening spell, I was able to get nearly every ball where I wanted it, my run up and action felt 100% better and was probably unlucky not to take a wicket. I ended up with 0/20 off 6, and on that outfield that's pretty poor.
Batting was the highlight of the day for me, I was very happy with my innings. Even though the sun had been drying out the pitch all morning there was still a few gremlins. But anyway I got my innings underway was a push towards mid wicket, a shot that is definitely not a strength of mine so that was an immediate positive. Then I had to face some quality spin from Deano which I thought would spell an early end for me, considering my weakness against spin especially early in my innings. His first ball spun and mile past my bat but amazingly that was all the trouble he gave me. I played some nice shot over mid wicket which I had myself confused about, no idea why I played it but I allowed perfectly for the spin and it came off beautifully. It was all going along nicely until the pitch decided to throw me a few dooseys. Toby (pace) bowled 3 balls that really destroyed me. The first one stayed relatively low and swung in. The second one bounced in nearly the same spot and shot up and smacked me in the helmet. The third on again bounced in a similar spot but decided to stay even lower than the first ball, it rapped me on the pads and I was out LBW. I ended up with a solid 11, worth nearly double on a better outfield and was unlucky in the way I got out so was very, very happy with my innings.
Everyone put in a good performance. Dad managed to get through a game despite his continuing back problems which is a good sign. We were playing a weird form of average cricket where you had to win both on average and on total score, every batsman had to bat for at least 2 overs. Anyway the Presidents XI had the average pretty much sealed for the whole game, but just couldn't beat the Captains XI score of 141 pulling up one run short which made for a really exciting finish. So the game was a draw.
More cricket tomorrow, with training at the SCG nets.
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